Background
Born in Lehe, near Bremerhaven, he started his studies at the University of Marburg.
Born in Lehe, near Bremerhaven, he started his studies at the University of Marburg.
He was educated in Marburg, and studied at Göttingen (1924 - 1927).
He was director of the organic medical biochemical section of the Chemical Institute at Göttingen (1931 - 1933). Butenandt is noted for his work on the sex hormones, notably for the preparation of testosterone and androsterone, the latter from urine. He also investigated the chemical structure of the progestins, substances that make the lining of the womb ready for implantation of the fertilized ovum. Butenandt and Leopold Ruzicka were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1939 for their independent researches on sex hormones, but the Nazi government forced Butenandt to decline it. He was professor of physiological chemistry at the University of Tübingen from 1945 to 1956. He died in Munich on January 18, 1995.